FLANDERS, the land of the Flemings, borders upon the North Sea, formerly extended from the Scheldt to the Somme, and included, besides the present Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders, part of Zealand, and also of Artois, in France; the ancient county dates from 862, in which year Charles the Bold of France, as suzerain, raised it to the status of a sovereign county, and bestowed it upon his son Baldwin I.; it has successively belonged to Spain and Austria, and in Louis XIV.'s reign a portion of it was ceded to France, now known as French Flanders, while Zealand passed into the hands of the Dutch; the remainder was in 1714 made the Austrian Netherlands, and in 1831 was incorporated with the new kingdom of BELGIUM (q. v.).

FLANDRIN, a French painter, born at Lyons; was a pupil of Ingres; represented the religious movement in art in the 19th century (1809-1864).

FLAUBERT, GUSTAVE, a realistic romancer, born at Rouen; author of "Madame Bovary," a study of provincial life, which became the subject of a prosecution, and "Salammbo," wonderful for its vigour and skill in description; he indulged in repulsive subjects (1821-1880).

FLAVEL, JOHN, an English Nonconformist divine of spiritualising tendencies, much read by pious people of his class; d. 1691.

FLAXMAN, JOHN, an eminent sculptor, born at York; was brought up in London, where his father carried on business as a moulder of plaster figures; his love of drawing and modelling soon marked him out as an artist, and helped by friends he devoted himself to art; exhibited at the age of 12, and won the silver medal of the Royal Academy at 14; for some years he supplied the Wedgwoods with designs for their famous pottery, and in 1787 he went to Rome, which for seven years became his home; in 1810 became professor of Sculpture to the Royal Academy; besides many fine statues of eminent men and much exquisite work in bas-reliefs, he executed a series of noble designs illustrating Homer, Dante, and AEschylus; he was a Swedenborgian by religious creed (1755-1826).

FLECHIER, a famous French pulpit orator, bishop of Nimes; his funeral orations compare with Bossuet's (1632-1710).

FLEET MARRIAGES, clandestine marriages, suppressed in 1754, performed without license by the chaplains of Fleet Prison, London.

FLEET PRISON, a celebrated London jail in Farringdon Street; was a debtor's prison as far back as the 12th century.

FLEETWOOD, CHARLES, a Cromwellian officer; fought as lieutenant-general against the king at Worcester, and acted as lord-deputy in Ireland; on the death of Cromwell advised the abdication of Richard; d. 1692.

FLEGEL, African explorer, born in Wilna, of German descent; made three journeys from Europe to explore the Niger territory, in which he made important discoveries; was suddenly stricken down in the last (1855-1886).

FLEISCHER, HEINRICH LEBERECHT, Orientalist, born at Schandau, Saxony; after a university training at Leipzig he undertook a catalogue of the Oriental MSS. in the royal library at Dresden, and in 1836 became professor of Oriental Languages at Leipzig; did important work as a critical editor of Oriental works and MSS. (1801-1888).

FLEMING, PAUL, a celebrated German poet, born at Hartenstein, Vogtland; received a medical training at Leipzig, and was engaged in embassies in Russia and Persia; settled in Hamburg in 1639, but died the following year; as a lyrist he stood in the front rank of German poets (1609-1640).

FLEMISH SCHOOL, a school of painting established in the 15th century, and to which Reubens, Vandyck, and Teniers belonged.

FLESHLY SCHOOL, a name given by Robert Buchanan to a realistic school of poets, to which Rossetti, William Morris, and Swinburne belong.

FLESSELLES, the last provost of the merchants of the Hotel de Ville, Paris; "shot by an unknown hand at the turn of a street" after the fall of the Bastille (1721-1789).

FLETCHER, ANDREW, of Saltoun, a Scottish patriot and politician; after travelling on the Continent for four years he entered the Scottish Parliament, but got into trouble through his opposition to James, Duke of York, the Royal Commissioner in Scotland, and fled to Holland; his estates were confiscated, and for the next seven years he was a political refugee; he took part in the Rye House Plot and in Monmouth's invasion; his estates were restored in 1688, and he again sat in the Scottish Parliament; he was an active promoter of the abortive Darien Scheme, and a strong opponent of the Union of 1707 (1653-1716).

FLETCHER, GILES, an English poet, born in London; was the unappreciated rector of Alderton, in Suffolk, and author of a fervid and imaginative poem, "Christ's Victory and Triumph," which won the admiration of Milton (1588-1623).

FLETCHER, JOHN, English dramatist, the son of a bishop of London; was left an orphan and in poverty; collaborated with BEAUMONT (q. v.) in the production of the plays published under their joint names; died of the plague (1570-1625).

FLETCHER, PHINEAS, poet, brother of preceding; was rector of Hilgay, Norfolk; celebrated for his poem the "Purple Island, or the Isle of Man," an ingenious allegory descriptive of the human body—i. e. the Purple Island—and its vices and virtues.

FLEURANT, MONSIEUR, a character in Moliere's "Malade Imaginaire."

FLEUR-DE-LIS (i. e. lily-flower), a badge of ultimately three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue field, borne from the days of Clovis on their arms by the kings of France.

FLEURY, ANDRE HERCULE DE. CARDINAL, French statesman, born at Lodeve, in Languedoc; studied philosophy in Paris; became a doctor of the Sorbonne and almoner to the Queen and King Louis XIV., who subsequently made him bishop of Frejus and tutor to his son Louis; in 1726 he was chosen Prime Minister by Louis XV., and created a cardinal; he carried through a successful war with Germany, which resulted in the acquisition of Lorraine by France, but although honest and cautious, he cannot be styled a great statesman (1653-1743).

FLEURY, CLAUDE, ABBE, an ecclesiastical historian, born in Paris; was at the outset of his career a successful advocate, but afterwards entered the Church; as tutor he educated various princes, including an illegitimate son of Louis XIV., who in reward appointed him to the priory of Argenteuil; was chosen confessor to the young Louis XV., and in 1696 was elected to the Academy; his chief work is his great "Ecclesiastical History" in 20 vols., on which he laboured for 30 years, and the learning, ability, and impartiality of which procured for him the esteem of all parties (1640-1723).

FLINDERS, MATTHEW, a naval officer, born in Lincolnshire; explored the coast of Australia, experiencing not a few adventures, and adding materially to our geographical knowledge (1760-1814).

FLINT, 1, a maritime county (77) of North Wales, between Lancashire and Denbigh, of which a detached portion lies to the N. of Shropshire; low stretches of sand form its foreshore, but inland it is hilly, with here and there a picturesque and fertile valley in which dairy-farming is extensively carried on. 2, a seaport (5), on the estuary of the Dee, 13 m. NW. of Chester; has ruins of a castle with interesting historical associations; in the neighbourhood are copper-works and lead and coal mines.

FLINT, ROBERT, a theologian, born in Dumfriesshire; professor of Divinity in Edinburgh University; an eminent scholar, a vigorous thinker, and a man of broad sympathies, who takes a deep interest in all the vital questions of the times, and has contributed to the solution of them; has written on Theism, the Philosophy of History, Socialism, &c.; b. 1838.

FLOATING ISLANDS are sometimes formed of masses of driftwood on which debris, vegetation, &c., gradually form a soil, but are more commonly portions of river banks detached by the force of the current when swollen and drifted put, sometimes as much as 100 m., to sea, carrying with them plants, reptiles, and larger animals, and thus contributing to the distribution to distant shores of animal and vegetable life; they are to be met with off the mouths of the larger American, Asian, and African rivers, and sometimes in inland seas and lakes; Derwent Lake, in England, has a notable one, which sinks, and rises periodically; they are also made artificially in districts subject to floods as asylums of refuge.

FLODDEN, BATTLE OF, fought on Flodden Hill, a low spur of the Cheviots, 6 m. S. of Coldstream, between James IV. of Scotland and the English under the Earl of Surrey on the 9th of September 1513, which resulted in the crushing defeat of the Scots, who lost their king and the flower of their nobility, an event celebrated in Jean Elliot's "Flowers of the Forest"; a spirited account is given in the sixth canto of Scott's "Marmion."

FLOOD, HENRY, an Irish Nationalist, trained at Dublin and Oxford Universities; entering the Irish Parliament, he by his fervid oratory soon won a place in the front rank of Irish politicians; in 1769 he was put on trial for killing an opponent in a duel, but was acquitted; from 1775 to 1781 he was Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; to Grattan's Irish Bill of Right he offered bitter opposition, holding it to be an altogether inadequate measure; in 1783 he was returned to the English House of Commons, but failed to make his mark (1732-1791).

FLORA, goddess of the blossom of flowers and the spring, an early Roman divinity; had in the time of NUMA a flamen (q. v.) to herself.

FLORENCE (137), a famous Italian city, situated 50 m. from the sea; it lies in the valley of the Arno, and is built on both sides of the river, but chiefly on the N.; the outlying suburbs are singularly beautiful, and are surrounded by finely wooded hills, bright with gay villas and charming gardens; the old city itself is characterised by a sombre grandness, and is full of fine buildings of historic and artistic interest; chief amongst these is the cathedral, or Duomo, begun in 1298, with its grand dome and campanile (293 ft.), by Giotto. It is the city of Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Galileo and many more of Italy's great men, and has a history of exceptional interest; it has many fine art galleries; is an educational centre, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk.

FLORIAN, JEAN PIERRE DE, a French novelist and writer of fables; was the friend of Voltaire, from whom he received his first literary impulse; was the author of several romances plays, &c., but his finest work is found in his Fables, in which department of literature he ranks next La Fontaine (1755-1794).

FLORIDA (391), "Land of Flowers," the most southern of the American States, forms a bold peninsula on the E. side of the Gulf of Mexico, and has on its eastern shore the Atlantic; has a coast-line of 1150 m.; the chief physical feature is the amount of water surface, made up of 19 navigable rivers and lakes and ponds to the number of 1200, besides swamps and marshes; the climate is, however, equable, and for the most part healthy; fruit-growing is largely engaged in; the timber trade flourishes, also the phosphate industry, and cotton and the sugar-cane are extensively cultivated; a successful business in cigar-making has also of recent years sprung up, and there are valuable fisheries along the coast; Florida was admitted into the Union in 1845; the capital is Tallahassee.

FLORIO, JOHN, the translator of Montaigne, born in London, of Italian parents; was a tutor of foreign languages for some years at Oxford, and in 1581 became a member of Magdalen College and teacher of French and Italian; published two works of a miscellaneous character, called "First Fruits" and "Second Fruits," and an English-Italian dictionary called a "World of Words," but his fame rests on his translation of Montaigne, which Shakespeare used so freely (1553-1625).

FLORUS, a Latin historian, contemporary of Trajan.

FLUDD, ROBERT, physician and theosophist, born at Milgate, Kent; studied at Oxford, and travelled on the Continent, where he came under the influence of Paracelsus's writings; settled in London as a doctor, and published a work embodying a vague theosophy (1574-1637).

FLUSHING (13), a Dutch seaport, strongly fortified, on the island of Walcheren, at the mouth of the western Scheldt; has an active shipping trade, docks, arsenals, &c.

FLUXIONS, a method, invented by Sir Isaac Newton, of determining the rate of increase or decrease of a quantity or magnitude whose value depends on that of another which itself varies in value at a uniform and given rate. See CALCULUS, DIFFERENTIAL, AND INTEGRAL.

FLYING DUTCHMAN, a Dutch captain, fated for his sins to scour the sea and never reach port, who appeared from time to time to sea-captains as on a black spectral ship, and from the very terror he inspired made them change their course; there are many versions of this fable in the German mythology.

FO, the name in China for Buddha.

FO-HI, or FUH-HE, the mythical founder of the Chinese dynasty, is said to have introduced cattle-rearing, instituted marriage, and invented letters.

FOIX, GASTON DE, illustrious French captain, nephew of Louis XII., was from his daring exploits called the Thunderbolt of Italy; he beat the Swiss, routed the Papal troops, captured Brescia from the Venetians, and gained the battle of Ravenna against the Spaniards, but was slain when pursuing the fugitives (1489-1512).

FOIX, GASTON III. DE, French captain, surnamed Phoebus on account of his beauty and handsome presence; distinguished in the wars against the English and in the Jacquerie revolt, in which he rescued the dauphin at Meaux (1331-1391).

FOLEY, JOHN HENRY, an eminent sculptor, born in Dublin; his first success was achieved in a series of classical figures, including some Shakespearian subjects; statues of Hampden, Burke, J. S. Mill, Goldsmith, &c., brought him further fame, and he was commissioned by the Queen to execute the figure of Prince Albert in the Albert Memorial; his vigour and genius were further revealed in the noble equestrian statues of Hardinge and Outram (1818-1874).

FOLKESTONE (24), a seaport and watering-place on the coast of Kent, 7 m. SW. of Dover; has a fine harbour and esplanade; is much engaged in the herring and mackerel fisheries, and is steam-packet station for Boulogne; a fine railway viaduct spans the valley in which the old town lies.

FONBLANQUE, ALBANY WILLIAM, journalistic editor, after serving on the staff of the Times and the Morning Chronicle became editor of the Examiner, which he conducted successfully from 1830 to 1847; Carlyle was introduced to him on his visit to London in 1831, and describes him as "a tall, loose, lank-haired, wrinkly, wintry, vehement-looking flail of a man," but "the best of the Fourth Estate" then extant; "I rather like the man," he adds, "has the air of a true-hearted Radical" (1793-1872).

FONTAINEBLEAU, a town on the left bank of the Seine, 35 m. SE. of Paris, and famous for a chateau or palace of the kings of France, and the forest that surrounds it. This chateau, founded towards the end of the 10th century, was enlarged and embellished by successive kings, beginning with Francis I., and was the place where Napoleon signed his abdication in 1814.

FONTANES, LOUIS, MARQUIS DE, poet and man of letters, born at Niort, Poitou; came to Paris and achieved some celebrity by his poems and translations from Pope and Gray; changing from the Royalist side, he, during the Revolution, edited two journals in the Republican interest, and held the post of professor of Literature at the College of the Four Nations; was for some time a refugee in England, but afterwards returned and became a zealous supporter of Napoleon, on the downfall of whom he embraced the Bourbon cause, and was raised to the peerage (1757-1821).

FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE, a miscellaneous French writer, born at Rouen, a nephew of Corneille, whose Life he wrote; was designed for the bar, but under his uncle's patronage embarked on a literary career in Paris; he vehemently upheld the moderns in the famous literary quarrel of Moderns versus Ancients, and brought upon himself the satirical attacks of Boileau and Racine; became Secretary and then President of the Academie des Sciences; died in his hundredth year; his vigorous and versatile nature found vent in a wide variety of writings—literary, scientific, and historical; author of "Dialogues of the Dead," in imitation of Lucian, and "Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds"; is credited with the saying, "A man may have his hand full of truth, and yet only care to open his little finger," and this other, "No man was ever written down but by himself" (1657-1757).

FONTENOY, a village in Belgium, 5 m. SW. of Tournay, where Marshal Saxe beat the English, Dutch, and Austrians under the Duke of Cumberland in 1745.

FOOCHOW (630), a Chinese city, the capital of the province of Fu-chien, situated on the Min, 125 m. NE. of Amoy. Massive walls 30 ft. high enclose the original town, but the extensive suburbs reach down to the river, which is bridged, and is a convenient waterway for trading with the interior; it was made a free port in 1842, and is the centre of a busy trade in tea, timber, and textiles.

FOOLS, FEAST OF, a festival of wild mirth in the Middle Ages, held on 1st January, in which the Ass of Scripture celebrity played a chief part, and in which many of the rites and ceremonies of the Church were travestied.

FOOT-POUND, the name given in mechanics to the force required to raise 1 lb. through 1 foot, the unit of work.

FOOTE, SAMUEL, a celebrated English actor and playwright, born at Truro, Cornwall, of a good family; was educated at Oxford, and studied law, but ruined himself by gaming, and took to the stage; he became the successful lessee of Haymarket Theatre in 1747, where, by his inimitable powers of mimicry and clever comedies, he firmly established himself in popular favour (1720-1777).

FORBES, ARCHIBALD, a noted war-correspondent, born in Morayshire; was educated at Aberdeen University; served in a cavalry regiment, acted as war-correspondent for the Daily News during the Franco-German war, and has since been the brilliant chronicler of war news in all parts of the globe; has published several volumes; b. 1838.

FORBES, DUNCAN, of Culloden, a distinguished lawyer and patriotic politician, born at Bunchrew; was trained at Edinburgh and Leyden, and called to the Scotch bar in 1709; took an active part in putting down the rebellion of 1715, and in 1722 entered Parliament; three years later he was appointed Lord Advocate and Lord President of the Court of Session; succeeded his brother in the estates of Culloden and Bunchrew; during the 1745 rebellion he was active in the Hanoverian interest, and did much to quell the uprising; Forbes was a devoted Scot, and unweariedly strove to allay the Jacobite discontent and to establish the country in peace, and used his great influence and wealth to further these ends, services which, in the end, impoverished him, and received little or no recognition at the hands of Government (1685-1747).

FORBES, EDWARD, a noted naturalist, born at Douglas, in the Isle of Man; studied medicine at Edinburgh, where he became smitten with the love of natural science, to which he devoted his life; in 1841 he accompanied the Beacon as naturalist, and returning in 1843 found himself elected to the chair of Botany in King's College, London; various geological appointments followed, and in 1852 he became President of the Geological Society, and two years later received the chair of Natural History in Edinburgh; Forbes was a prolific author, and his writings cover the whole field of natural science, to every section of which he has made contributions of great value (1815-1854).

FORBES, JAMES DAVID, physicist, born at Edinburgh, the grandson of Sir William, and the son of the first lady-love of Sir Walter Scott, and very like her; was called to the bar in 1830; physical science, however, was his ruling passion, and in 1833 he became professor of Natural Philosophy in Edinburgh University, from which he was called in 1859 to the Principalship of the United College, St. Andrews, in which he succeeded Sir David Brewster, whom he had defeated in obtaining the Edinburgh chair; he made some valuable contributions to natural science, including discoveries in the polarisation of heat and in regard to the motion of glaciers, to investigate which he travelled in Norway and in the Alps (1809-1868).

FORBES, SIR JOHN, physician, born at Cuttlebrae, Banffshire; entered the navy as assistant-surgeon in 1807, and became M.D. of Edinburgh ten years later; practised at Penzance and Chichester, but finally settled at London in 1840, where he became physician to the Queen; was for twelve years editor of the British and Foreign Medical Review, which he founded in 1836, and was joint-author of the "Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine"; first to use the stethoscope in England (1787-1861).

FORBES, SIR WILLIAM, an eminent banker, son of a Scotch advocate and baronet, born in Edinburgh; became partner in the banking firm of Messrs. John Coutts & Co.; two years later a new company was formed, of which he rose to be manager, and which in 1830 became the Union Bank of Scotland; he is author of a Life of his friend Beattie, the Scottish poet, and of "Memoirs of a Banking-House" (1739-1806).

FORD, JOHN, dramatist, born at Islington, North Devon; studied at Oxford, and entered the Middle Temple in 1602, but was never called to the bar; in 1606 appeared his first poetic work "Fame's Memorial," an elegy on the death of the Earl of Devonshire, and for the next 33 years he was a prolific writer of plays, chiefly tragedies, collaborating in some cases with Dekker and Webster; "The Broken Heart" was greatly admired by Charles Lamb, and "Perkin Warbeck" is considered by Stopford Brooke the best historical drama after Shakespeare; there is little of the lighter graces about his work, and he is prone to go beyond the bounds of nature in his treatment of the tragic, but his grip on the greater human passions, and his power of moving presentment, are undoubted (1586-1639).

FORDUN, JOHN OF, a Scottish chronicler; lived in the 14th century; was a canon of Aberdeen Cathedral, and wrote a chronicle of Scottish history, bringing the story up to 1153; materials for further volumes, which he left, were utilised by Walter Bower, an abbot of Inchcolm, in the Forth, who extended the account to 1437, but often tampered with Fordun's narrative; the work is the chief authority in Scottish history up to the time it treats of.

FORELAND, NORTH AND SOUTH, two rocky promontories on the E. coast of Kent, which lie 16 m. apart; have the Downs and Goodwin Sands between them; they are well marked with lighthouses.

FORENSIC MEDICINE, or MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, a branch of legal science in which the principles of medicine are applied to the purposes of the law, and originating out of the frequency with which medical points arise in the administration of justice, e. g. in murder trials and in cases where insanity is involved.

FOREST LAWS, laws enacted in ancient times for the purpose of guarding the royal forest lands as hunting preserves, and which were up to the time of Henry III. of excessive harshness, death being a not infrequent penalty for infringement. The privileges of forest (at one time the sole prerogative of the sovereign, but by him capable of being vested in another), which might include the right to the wild animals in the forests lying in the domains of a private estate, have now fallen into abeyance, as also the special Forest Courts, while many of the royal forests, which in Henry VIII.'s time numbered 69, have been disafforested.

FORFAR (13), the county town of Forfarshire, 14 m. NE. of Dundee; manufactures linen; was once an important royal residence, and was made a royal burgh by David I.

FORFARSHIRE or ANGUS (278), a maritime county on the E. side of Scotland, lying N. of the Firth of Tay; Strathmore and the Carse of Gowrie are fertile valleys, where agriculture and cattle-rearing flourish, and which, with the Braes of Angus in the N. and the Sidlaw Hills to the S., make up a finely diversified county; jute and linen are the most important articles of manufacture, of which Dundee and Arbroath are centres; Forfarshire is a county particularly rich in antiquities—Roman remains, castles, priories, &c.

FORMOSA (3,500), a large island off the coast of China, from which it is separated by the Fukien Channel, 90 m. broad. Formosa was ceded to Japan by the Chinese in 1895; it is an island of much natural beauty, and is traversed N. and S. by a fine range of hills; is famed for its bamboos, and exports coal, rice, tea, &c. Name also of a large territory in the Argentine.

FORNARINA, a Roman lady of great beauty, a friend of Raphael's, and who frequently posed as a model to him.

FORRES (3), a royal burgh in Elginshire, on the Findhorn, 2 m. from the sea and 10 m. SW. of Elgin by railway; has ruins of a castle—once a royal residence—and a famous "Stan'in Stane," Sueno's Stone, 25 ft. high, placed in the year 900.

FORREST, EDWIN, a celebrated American actor, born in Philadelphia; went on the stage at 14, and from the provinces made his way to New York, where his rendering of Othello at the age of 20 raised him to the front rank among actors; he made three tours in England, but during his last in 1845 he entirely lost the popular favour through his conduct in an embittered quarrel with Macready; after his final appearance on the stage in 1871 he continued for a short while to give Shakespearian readings; he was a tragedian of the highest order, and in his profession amassed a large fortune (1806-1872).

FORS CLAVIGERA, the name given by Ruskin to a series of letters to workmen, written during the seventies of this century, and employed by him to designate three great powers which go to fashion human destiny, viz., Force, wearing, as it were, (clava) the club of Hercules; Fortitude, wearing, as it were, (clavis) the key of Ulysses; and Fortune, wearing, as it were, (clavus) the nail of Lycurgus; that is to say, Faculty waiting on the right moment, and then striking in. See Shakespeare's "Time and tide in the affairs of men," &c., the "flood" in which is the "Third Fors." The letters are represented as written at the dictation of the Third Fors, or, as it seems to the author, the right moment, or the occurrence of it.

FOeRSTER, ERNST, an art critic, brother of succeeding, author of a number of elaborate and important works bearing on the history of art in Germany and Italy; was the son-in-law of Jean Paul, whose works he edited, and to whose biography he made contributions of great value (1800-1885).

FOeRSTER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH, German poet and historian; his poetic gifts were first called into exercise during the war of liberation, in which he served as a volunteer, and the series of spirited war-songs he then wrote procured him a wide-spread fame; afterwards he lived in Berlin, teaching in the school of artillery, and subsequently becoming custodian of the Royal Art Museum; besides poems he wrote several historical and biographical works (1791-1868).

FORSTER, JOHANN GEORGE ADAM, naturalist, son of the succeeding; accompanied his father in the voyage with Cook, and contributed to the literature anent the expedition; subsequently became professor of Natural History at Cassel and at Wilna, and eventually librarian to the Elector of Mayence in 1788; his works are published in 9 vols. (1754-1794).

FORSTER, JOHANN REINHOLD, a German naturalist and traveller, born in Prussia; accompanied Captain Cook as a naturalist on his second expedition to the South Seas, and in connection with which he wrote a volume of observations; died professor of Natural History and Mineralogy at Halle (1729-1798).

FORSTER, JOHN, a noted English writer, born at Newcastle; was educated for the bar, but took to journalism, and soon made his mark as a political writer in the Examiner; he subsequently edited the Foreign Quarterly Review, the Daily News (succeeding Dickens), and the Examiner (1847-56); he was the author of several historical sketches, but his best-known works are the admirable biographies of Goldsmith, Landor, and Dickens (1812-1876).

FORSTER, WILLIAM EDWARD, statesman, born at Bradpole, Dorset, son of a Quaker; entered upon a commercial career in a worsted manufactory at Bradford, but from the first politics engaged his paramount attention, and in 1861 he became member of Parliament for Bradford; became in succession Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Vice-president of the Council of Education, and a Privy Councillor; his chief legislative measure was the Elementary Education Bill of 1870, which, as a member of Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet, he carried through Parliament, two years after which the Ballot Act was introduced by him; in 1874 he visited the United States, and on his return was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen University; as Irish Secretary in 1880 he made an earnest effort to grapple with the Irish problem, but losing the support of his colleagues, over the imprisonment of Mr. Parnell and other Land League leaders, he resigned; he was married to Jane, eldest daughter of Dr. Arnold of Rugby; his transparent honesty and rugged independence of character won him universal esteem (1819-1886).

FORT AUGUSTUS, a small village on the Caledonian Canal, 33 m. SW. of Inverness; the fort, built in 1716 and enlarged in 1730, was utilised as a barrack during the disturbances in the Highlands, but after being dismantled and again garrisoned down to 1857, it finally, in 1876, passed into the hands of the BENEDICTINES (q. v.), who have converted it into an abbey and college.

FORT GEORGE, a fortress on the Moray Firth, 12 m. NE. of Inverness; was built in 1748, and is now the head-quarters of the Seaforth Highlanders.

FORT WILLIAM, a small police-burgh in Inverness-shire, 66 m. SW. of Inverness, near the southern end of the Caledonian Canal; the railway station stands on the site of the old fort, which in 1655 was built by Monk; a meteorological observatory was erected here in 1889.

FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN, an eminent English lawyer, born in Somersetshire; flourished in the 15th century; was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1442 became Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of King's Bench; he was a staunch Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses, and shared the exile of Queen Margaret and her son Edward, for whom he wrote in dialogue form his famous "De Laudibus Legum," a treatise still read; the fate of the Lancastrian cause was sealed on the field of Tewkesbury, and he himself was taken prisoner; he died at the advanced age of 90.

FORTH, a river of Scotland, formed by the junction of Duchray Water and the Avondhu, streams which rise one on Ben Lomond and the other on Ben Venue, and which, after 14 and 9 m., unite at Aberfoyle; the river thence flows with many windings, called Links, through some of the fairest country of the eastern lowlands to Alloa (511/2 m.), where begins the Firth, which stretches 51 m. to the German Ocean, and which at Queensferry is spanned by a massive railway bridge known as the Forth Bridge (1882-1890).

FORTUNA, a Roman divinity, the goddess of luck, and especially good luck, to whom Servius Tullius, in acknowledgment of her favours to him, erected several temples in Rome; is represented in art as standing poised on a globe or a wheel, to express her inconstancy.

FORTUNATUS, a character in a popular German legend, who possessed a purse out of which he was able to provide himself with money as often as he needed it and cap, by putting on of which, and wishing to be anywhere, he was straightway there; these he got, by his own free election and choice, conceded to him by the Upper Powers, and they proved a curse to him rather than a blessing, he finding out when too late that "the god Wish is not the true God."

FORTY THIEVES, a fraternity in the "Arabian Nights" who inhabited a secret den in a forest, the gate of which would open only to the magic word "Sesame."

FORUM, a public place in Rome and Roman cities where the courts of justice were held, and popular assemblies for civic business.

FORWARDS, MARSHAL, MARSHAL BLUeCHER (q. v.).

FOSCARI, a Doge of Venice from 1423 to his death; his reign was distinguished by the glories of conquest, but his life was embittered by the misfortunes of his sons, and the judicial tortures inflicted on one of them which he was compelled to witness; he died at the age of 87, broken-hearted (1370-1457).

FOSCOLO, UGO, an Italian patriot and author, born at Zante; his literary career began in Venice with the successful performance of his tragedy "Trieste," but on the Austrian occupation of the town he joined the French army; disappointed in the hope that France would unite with and free Italy, he returned to literary work in Milan, and in 1809 was called to the chair of Eloquenco in Pavia; but the conquering Austrians again forced him to become a refugee, first in Switzerland and finally in England, where he died; he was the author of various essays, poems, etc., and of a translation of Sterne's "Sentimental Journey" (1778-1827).

FOSTER, BIRKET, a celebrated artist, born at North Shields; his earliest work was done in wood-engraving under the direction of Landells, and many of his sketches appeared in the Illustrated London News; following this he executed, in collaboration with John Gilbert, a series of illustrations for the works of Goldsmith, Cowper, Scott, and other poets, in which he exhibited a rare skill in rural scenes; subsequent work has been in water-colours, and in 1861 he was elected a member of the Water-Colour Society (1825-1899).

FOSTER, JOHN, an English essayist, born in Halifax, Yorkshire; was trained for the Baptist ministry, and for 25 years officiated in various congregations, but met with little success; from 1817 he devoted himself solely to literature, and became a contributor to the Eclectic Review, for which he wrote no fewer than 184 articles; his best-known work is an "Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance," in which he advocates a system of national education (1770-1843).

FOTHERINGAY, a village in Northamptonshire, on the Nen, 9 m. SW. of Peterborough; the ruined castle there was the scene of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.

FOUCAULT, JOHN BERNARD, a French physicist, born in Paris; distinguished for his studies in optics and problems connected with light; demonstrated the rate of the rotation of the globe by the oscillation of a pendulum (1819-1868).

FOUCHE, JOSEPH, Duke of Otranto, born at Nantes, a member of the National Convention, and voted for the death of Louis XVI.; became Minister of Police under Napoleon; falling into disfavour, was sent into exile, but recalled to Paris in 1814; advised Napoleon to abdicate at that time and again after Waterloo; served under Louis XVIII. for a time, but was obliged at length to quit France for good; died at Trieste (1763-1820).

FOULA, a high and rocky islet among the Shetlands, 32 m. W. of Lerwick; its sandstone cliffs on the NW. are 1220 ft. in height, and rise sheer from the water; it is sparsely peopled; fishing is the almost sole pursuit.

FOULD, ACHILLE, French statesman, born at Paris; entered political life in 1842; became an authority in finance, served in that capacity under Louis Napoleon (1800-1865).

FOULIS, ROBERT and ANDREW, celebrated printers; were brought up in Glasgow, where Robert, the elder, after practising as a barber, took to printing, and in 1743 became printer to the university; his press was far-famed for the beauty and accuracy of editions of the classics; Andrew was trained for the ministry, but subsequently joined his brother; an academy, started by the brothers in 1753 for engraving, moulding, etc., although a complete success artistically, involved them in expense, and eventually financial ruin; they have been called the "Scottish Elzevirs" (Robert, 1707-1776; Andrew, 1712-1775).

FOULON, a French financier, nicknamed the Ame damnee, Familiar demon, of the parlement of Paris prior to the Revolution; "once, when it was objected to some financial scheme of his, 'What will the people do?' made answer, 'The people may eat grass,'" words which the people never forgot; when attacked by them "he defended himself like a mad lion, but was borne down, trampled, hanged, and mangled," his head thereafter paraded through the city on a pike and the mouth stuffed with grass (1715-1789).

FOUNDLING HOSPITALS are institutions for the rearing of children who have been deserted by their parents, and exist with varying regulations in most civilised countries; the first foundling hospital was established at Milan in 787, and others arose in Germany, Italy, and France before the 14th century; the Paris foundling hospital is a noted institution of the kind, and offers every encouragement for children to be brought in, and admits legitimate orphans and children pronounced incorrigible criminals by the court; the London foundling hospital was founded by Captain Thomas Coram, and supports about 500 illegitimates.

FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, a merciless revolutionary, born near Artois; member of the Jacobin Club, Attorney-General of the Revolutionary Tribunal, purveyor of the guillotine; was guillotined himself after the fall of Robespierre (1747-1795).

FOURTH ESTATE, the daily press, so called by Edmund Burke, pointing, in the House of Commons, to the reporters' gallery.

FOURTH OF JULY, the anniversary of the declaration of American Independence in 1776.

FOWLER, SIR JOHN, K.C.M.G., civil engineer, born at Sheffield; was actively engaged in the construction of numerous railways (notably the London and Brighton), and in dock and bridge building; carried through important works in Egypt in 1885, and, along with Sir B. Baker, he designed the Forth Bridge, on the completion of which he received a baronetcy (1817-1889).

FOX, CHARLES JAMES, an eminent Whig statesman, third son of Henry Fox, first Lord Holland, born in London; was educated at Eton and Oxford, and at the age of 19 sat in Parliament for Midhurst; under Lord North he held office, but quarrelled with the premier and went over to the Whigs, then led by Rockingham; here he came under the influence of Burke, and with him offered uncompromising opposition to the American War; in the Rockingham ministry which followed he was Foreign Secretary, and subsequently joined North in the short-lived coalition ministry of 1783; during the next 14 years he was the great opponent of Pitt's Government, and his brilliant powers of debate were never more effectively displayed than in his speeches against Warren Hastings and in the debates arising out of the French Revolution, in which he advocated a policy of non-intervention; his sympathy with the French revolutionaries cost him the friendship of Burke; during a retirement of five years he wrote his "History of James II."; on Pitt's death in 1806 he again came into office as Foreign Secretary, but died shortly afterwards when about to plead in the House of Commons the cause of slave abolition; Fox stands in the front rank of our parliamentary debaters, and was a man of quick and generous sympathies, but the reckless dissipation of his private life diminished his popular influence, and probably accounts for the fact that he never reached the highest office of State (1749-1806).

FOX, GEORGE, the first of the Quakers, born at Drayton, Leicestershire; son of a poor weaver, and till his twentieth year plied the trade of a shoemaker; conceived, as he drudged at this task, that he had a call from above to withdraw from the world and give himself up to a higher ministry; stitched for himself one day a suit of leather, and so encased wandered through the country, rapt in his thoughts and bearing witness to the truth that God had revealed to him; about 1646 began his crusade against the religion of mere formality, and calling upon men to trust to the "inner light" alone; his quaint garb won him the title of "the man with the leather breeches," and his mode of speech with his "thou's" and "thee's" subjected him to general ridicule; but despite these eccentricities he by his earnestness gathered disciples about him who believed what he said and adopted his principles, and in the prosecution of his mission he visited Wales, Scotland, America, and various parts of Germany, not without results; he had no kindly feeling towards Cromwell, with whom he had three interviews, and who in his public conduct seemed to him to pay no regard to the claims of the "inner light" and the disciples of it (1624-1690). See "SARTOR RESARTUS," BOOK III. CHAP. I.

FOX, WILLIAM JOHNSON, religious and political orator, born near Southwold, Suffolk; was trained for the Independent ministry, but seceded to the Unitarians, and subsequently established himself as a preacher of pronounced rationalism at Finsbury; as a supporter of the Anti-Corn-Law movement he won celebrity as an impassioned orator, and from 1847 to 1863 represented Oldham in Parliament; he was editor of the Monthly Repository, and a frequent contributor to the Westminster Review, and published various works on political and religious topics (1786-1864).

FOXE, JOHN, martyrologist, born at Boston, Lincolnshire; in 1545 he resigned his Fellowship in Magdalen College, Oxford, on account of his espousing the doctrines of the Reformation, and for some years after he acted as a private tutor in noble families; during Queen Mary's reign he sought refuge on the Continent, where he formed acquaintance with Knox and other leading Reformers; he returned to England on the accession of Elizabeth, and was appointed a prebend in Salisbury cathedral, but his Nonconformist leanings precluded his further preferment; his most famous work is his "Book of Martyrs," first published in Latin on the Continent, the noble English version appearing in 1563 (1516-1587).

FOYERS, FALL OF, a fine cascade, having a fall of 165 ft., on the lower portion of the Foyers, a river of Inverness-shire, which enters Loch Ness on the E. side, 10 in. NE. of Fort Augustus.

FRA DIAVOLO, chief of a band of Italian brigands, born in Calabria; leader in sundry Italian insurrections; was hanged at Naples for treachery, in spite of remonstrances from England; gave name to an opera by Auber, but only the name (1760-1806).

FRACAS'TORO, GIROLAMO, a learned physician and poet, born at Verona; became professor of Dialectic at Padua in his twentieth year; subsequently practised as a physician, but eventually gave himself up to literature (1483-1553).

FRAGONARD, JEAN HONORE, a French artist, born at Grasse; gained the "prix de Rome" in 1752, and afterwards studied in Rome; was a member of the French Academy, and during the Revolution became keeper of the Musee; many of his paintings are in the Louvre, and are characterised by their free and luscious colouring (1732-1806).

FRANC, a silver coin 835/1000 fine, the monetary unity of France since 1799, weighs 5 grammes and equals about 91/2 d. in English currency (L1 = 25.3 francs); has been adopted by Belgium and Switzerland, while under other names a similar coin is in use in Spain (peseta), Italy (lira), and Greece (drachma).

FRANCE (38,343), the land of the French; a nation standing in the front rank among the powers of Europe. It occupies a geographical position of peculiar advantage in the western portion of it, having a southern foreshore on the Mediterranean and a western and northern seaboard washed by the Atlantic and the English Channel, possessing altogether a coast-line, rather undeveloped however, of upwards of 2000 m., while to the E. it abuts upon Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. It is divided into 87 departments, including Corsica. It is mainly composed of lowland and plateau, but has the Cevennes in the S., while the Pyrenees and Alps (with the Vosges and Ardennes farther N.) lie on its southern and eastern boundaries. Rivers abound and form, with the splendid railway, canal, and telegraph systems, an unrivalled means of internal communication; but there are singularly few lakes. It enjoys on the whole a fine climate, which favours the vineyards in the centre (the finest in the world), the olive groves in the S., and the wheat and beetroot region in the N. The mineral wealth is inconsiderable, and what of coal and iron there is lies widely apart. Her manufactures, which include silk, wine, and woollen goods, are of the best, and in fine artistic work she is without an equal. The colonies are together larger in area than the mother-country, and include Algeria, Madagascar, and Cochin China. The French are a people of keen intelligence, of bright, impulsive, and vivacious nature; urbane, cultured, and pleasure-loving in the cities, thrifty and industrious in the country; few races have given so rich a bequest to the literature and art of the world. Roman Catholicism is the dominant form of religion, but Protestantism and the Jewish religion are also State supported, as also Mohammedanism in Algiers. Free compulsory education is in vogue. The Government is a Republic, and there are two chambers—a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Originally occupied by Celts, the country, then called Gallia, was conquered by the Romans between 58 and 51 B.C., who occupied it till the 4th century, when it was overrun by the Teutons, including the Franks, who became dominant; and about 870 the country, under Charles the Bald, became known as France. The unsettling effects of the great cataclysm of 1789 have been apparent in the series of political changes which have swept across the country this century; within that time it has been thrice a monarchy, thrice an empire, and thrice a republic.

FRANCESCA, PISTRO DELLA, an Italian painter, sometimes called Piero Borghese after his native place; did fresco-work in Florence and at Loretto; painted pictures for the Duke of Rimini, notably "The Flagellation"; was a friend of Raphael's father; some of his pictures are in the London National Gallery (1420-1492).

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, a beautiful Italian lady of the 13th century, whose pathetic love story finds a place in Dante's "Inferno"; she was betrothed by her father, the Lord of Ravenna, to Giovanni of Rimini, but her affections were engaged by Paolo, his brother; the lovers were found together by Giovanni and murdered by him.

FRANCESCO DI PAULA or ST. FRANCIS OF PAOLA, founder of the order of the Minims, born at Paula, in Calabria; was trained in a Franciscan convent, but at the age of 19 took up his abode in a cave, where the severe purity and piety of his life attracted to him many disciples; subsequently he founded an ascetic brotherhood, first called the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi, but afterwards changed to Minim-Hermits of St. Francis of Paola; he eventually lived in France, where convents were built for him and his brotherhood under royal patronage (1416-1507).

FRANCHE-COMTE, an ancient province in the E. of France, added to the crown of France in the reign of Louis XIV. at the peace of Nimeguen in 1671.

FRANCIA, DR. JOSE GASPAR RODRIGUEZ DA, dictator of Paraguay, born near Asuncion, in Paraguay; graduated as a doctor of theology, but subsequently took to law, in the practice of which profession he was engaged for 30 years, and won a high reputation for ability and undeviating honesty; in the revolutionary uprising which spread throughout Spanish South America, Paraguay played a conspicuous part, and when in 1811 she declared her independence, Francia was elected secretary of the first national junta, and two years later one of two consuls; eventually, in 1814, he became dictator, a position he held till his death; he ruled the country with a strong hand and with scrupulous, if somewhat rough, justice, making it part of his policy to allow no intercourse, political or commercial, with other countries; the country flourished under his rule, but fell into disorder after his death; he is the subject of a well-known essay by Carlyle, who finds him a man very much after his own heart (1757-1840).

FRANCIS, ST., OF ASSISI, founder of the Franciscan order, born at Assisi, in Umbria; began life as a soldier, but during a serious illness his thoughts were turned from earth to heaven, and he devoted himself to a life of poverty and self-denial, with the result that his enthusiasm provoked emulation, and some of his neighbours associated with him and formed a brotherhood, which gave rise to the order; St. Dominic and he were contemporaries, "the former teaching Christian men how to behave, and the latter what they should think"; each sent a little company of disciples to teach and preach in Florence, where their influence soon made itself felt, St. Francis in 1212 and St. Dominic in 1220.

FRANCIS, ST., OF SALES, bishop of Geneva, born In the chateau of Sales, near Amiens, founder of the Order of the Visitation; was sent to persuade the Calvinists of Geneva back to the Church of Rome, and applied himself zealously to the reform of his diocese and the monasteries (1567-1622).

FRANCIS JOSEPH, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary; succeeded to the throne in 1848 on the abdication of his uncle, Ferdinand I.; the Hungarian difficulty has been the chief problem of his reign, with which he at first dealt in a spirit of harsh oppression, but since 1866 a milder policy has been adopted, and the desire for national autonomy was met by the creation of a dual monarchy in 1867, Francis being crowned king of Hungary; other important events have been the cession of Lombardy to Sardinia in 1859 and of Venetia in 1866, after an unsuccessful war with Prussia; b. 1830.

FRANCISCANS, or MINORITES, an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1208; according to Ruskin, they were the order that preached with St James the gospel of Works as distinct from the Dominicans, who preached with St. Paul the gospel of Faith, and their gospel required three things: "to work without money and be poor, to work without pleasure and be chaste, and to work according to orders and be obedient"; these were the rules they were sworn to obey at first, but they gradually forsook the austerity they enjoined, acquired great wealth, instituted a highly sensuous ceremonial, and became invested with privileges which excited the jealousy of the regular clergy; with the order were associated a number of men eminent in the Church, and many no less so in philosophy, literature, and art.

FRANCK, SEBASTIAN, early German writer, born at Donauwoerth; from a Catholic priest became a Protestant, but fell into disfavour for promulgating the doctrine that regeneration of life is of more importance than reform of dogma, and in 1531 was banished from Strasburg; subsequently he became a soap-boiler and eventually a printer; his most noted work is his "Chronica," a rough attempt—the first in Germany—at a general history (1499-1542).

FRANCKE, AUGUST HERMANN, a German religious philanthropist, born at Luebeck; was professor of Oriental Languages and subsequently of Theology at Halle; he founded various educational institutions and a large orphanage, all of which still exist and afford education for some 3000 children annually; he was active in promoting PIETISM, q. v. (1663-1727).

FRANCONIA, the name formerly applied to a loosely defined district in Central Germany, which, as the home of the Franks, was regarded as the heart of the Holy Roman Empire; the emperors long continued to be crowned within its boundaries; subsequently it was divided into two duchies, East Franconia and Rhenish Franconia; the latter was abolished in 1501 and the former much diminished; from 1806 to 1837 the name had no official existence, but in 1837 the names Upper, Middle, and Lower Franconia were given to the three northern divisions of Bavaria.

FRANC-TIREURS (i. e. free-shooters), French volunteers, chiefly peasants, who carried on a guerilla warfare against the Germans in the Franco-German War; were at first denied the status of regular soldiers by the Germans and mercilessly shot when captured, but subsequently, having joined in the movements of the regular army, they were when captured treated as prisoners of war.

FRANKENSTEIN, a monster of romance created without a soul, yet not without craving for human sympathy, who found existence on these terms a curse, as a man with high cravings might find science to be without God.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN (180), one of the old free cities of Germany, a centre of importance under the Kaisers and the seat of the Diet of the Germanic Confederation, and one of the great banking cities of the world; it is the birthplace of the poet Goethe, and is associated with his early history.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-ODER (56), a town of Prussia, in the province of Brandenburg, 51 m. SE. of Berlin, is a well-built town; has a university incorporated with Breslau in 1811, and is actively engaged in the manufacture of machinery, chemicals, paper, &c.

FRANKLAND, SIR EDWARD, an eminent chemist, born at Churchtown, Lancashire; has held successively the chairs of Chemistry in Owens College, in Bartholomew's Hospital, in the Royal Institution, in the Royal College of Chemistry, and in the Normal School of Science, South Kensington, the latter of which he resigned in 1885; has published various works, and was engaged with Lockyer in researches on the atmosphere of the sun; b. 1825.

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, born in Boston, was the youngest son of a tallow-chandler and one of a family of 17; received a meagre education, and at the age of 12 became apprenticed to his brother, a printer and proprietor of a small newspaper, to whose columns he began to contribute; but subsequently quarrelling with him made his way almost penniless to Philadelphia, where he worked as a printer; in 1724 he came to England under promises of assistance, which were not fulfilled, and for 18 months laboured at his printing trade in London, when he returned to Philadelphia, and there, by steady industry, won a secure position as a printer and proprietor of the Pennsylvania Gazette; in 1732 began to appear his Poor Richard's Almanac, which, with its famous maxims of prudential philosophy, had a phenomenal success; four years later he entered upon a public career, rising through various offices to the position of Deputy Postmaster-General for the Colonies, and sitting in the Assembly; carried through important political missions to England in 1757 and 1764, and was prominent in the deliberations which ended in the declaration of American independence in 1776; he visited France and helped to bring about the French alliance, and made an unavailing effort to bring in Canada, and, as American minister, signed the Treaty of Independence in 1783; was subsequently minister to France, and was twice unanimously elected President of Pennsylvania; his name is also associated with discoveries in natural science, notably the discovery of the identity of electricity and lightning, which he achieved by means of a kite; received degrees from Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, and was elected an F.R.S.; in 1730 he married Deborah Reid, by whom he had two children (1706-1790).

FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN, a famous Arctic explorer, born at Spilsby, Lincolnshire; entered the navy in 1800; was a midshipman; was present at the battle of Copenhagen; shortly afterwards accompanied an expedition, under Captain Minders, to explore and survey the coasts of Australia; was wrecked, and returned home on board the Camden as a signal-midshipman; he subsequently distinguished himself at the battle of Trafalgar, and took part in the attack on New Orleans; in 1818 he was second in command of an expedition sent out under Captain Buchan to discover a North-West Passage, which, although unsuccessful, contributed to reveal Franklin's admirable qualities as a leader, and in 1819 he was chosen to head another Arctic expedition, which, after exploring the Saskatchewan and Copper-Mine Rivers and adjacent territory, returned in 1822; Franklin was created a post-captain, and for services in a further expedition in search of a North-West Passage was, in 1829, knighted; after further services he was in 1845 put in command of an expedition, consisting of the Erebus and Terror, for the discovery of the North-West Passage; the expedition never returned, and for many years a painful interest was manifested in the various expeditions (17 in all) which were sent out to search for the lost party; many relics of this unfortunate explorer were found, demonstrating the discovery of the North-West Passage; but the story of his fate has never been precisely ascertained (1786-1847).

FRANKS, the name given in the 3rd century to a confederation of Germanic tribes, who subsequently grouped themselves into two main bodies called the Salians and the Ripuarians, the former dwelling on the Upper Rhine, and the latter on the Middle Rhine. Under their king, Clovis, the Salians overran Central Gaul, subjugating the Ripuarians, and extending their territory from the Scheldt to the Loire, whence in course of time there generally developed the kingdom of France. The Franks were of a tall and martial bearing, and thoroughly democratic in their political instincts.

FRANZ, ROBERT, musical composer, born at Halle; his first songs appeared in 1843, and were cordially appreciated by Mendelssohn and other masters; in 1868 ill-health forced him to resign his musical appointments in Halle, but by the efforts of Liszt, Joachim, and others, funds were raised by means of concerts to ensure him a competence for life; he published upwards of 250 songs (1815-1892).

FRANZENSBAD or FRANZENSBRUNN (2), a watering-place on the NW. frontier of Bohemia, 3 m. NW. of Eger; is 1460 ft. above sea-level, amidst a mountainous country; is much frequented by invalids for its mineral springs.

FRANZ-JOSEF LAND, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, N. of Nova Zembla; was discovered and partly explored in 1873-74 by Payer and Weyprecht; consists of two main divisions, Wilczek Land to the E., and Zichy Land to the W., between which runs Austria Sound. Arctic animals are found in good numbers. It is considered an excellent base for expeditions in quest of the North Pole.

FRASER, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, philosopher, born at Ardchattan, Argyllshire; after a university training at Edinburgh and Glasgow he entered the Free Church; was for a brief term Free Church minister of Cramond, from which he was transferred to a chair in the Free Church College, but in 1856 succeeded Sir William Hamilton as professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Edinburgh, a position he held till 1891, when he resigned; his writings include the standard edition of Berkeley, with notes and a life, monographs on Locke and Berkeley in the series of "Philosophical Classics," and two vols. on the "Philosophy of Theism," being the Gifford Lectures delivered 1895-96; b. 1819.

FRASER, JAMES, bishop of Manchester, born near Cheltenham, became a Fellow of Oriel after graduating with highest honours, and in 1847 was appointed to a college living; he issued in 1862-1864 valuable reports on education in Canada and the United States after visiting these countries; and in 1870 was appointed bishop by Mr. Gladstone; his strong sense and wide sympathy and interest in the labour questions won him universal respect (1818-1885).

FRASER RIVER, the chief river of British Columbia, is formed by the junction near Fort George of two streams, one rising in the Rockies, the other flowing out of the Lakes Stuart and Fraser; it discharges into the Georgian Gulf, 800 m. below Fort George. Rich deposits of gold are found in the lower basin, and an active industry in salmon-catching and canning is carried on.

FRATICELLI (i. e. Little Brethren), a religious sect which arose in Italy in the 13th century, and continued to exist until the close of the 15th. They were an offshoot from the FRANCISCANS (q. v.), who sought in their lives to enforce more rigidly the laws of St. Francis, and declined to accept the pontifical explanations of monastic rules; ultimately they broke away from the authority of the Church, and despite the efforts of various popes to reconcile them, and the bitter persecutions of others, maintained a separate organisation, going the length of appointing their own cardinals and pope, having declared the Church in a state of apostasy. Their regime of life was of the severest nature; they begged from door to door their daily food, and went clothed in rags.

FRAUNHOFER, JOSEPH VON, German optician, born in Straubing, Bavaria; after serving an apprenticeship as a glass-cutter in Muenich, he rose to be manager of an optical institute there, and eventually attained to the position of professor in the Academy of Sciences; his name is associated with many discoveries in optical science as well as inventions and improvements in the optician's art; but he is chiefly remembered for his discovery of the dark lines in the solar spectrum, since called after him the Fraunhofer lines (1787-1826).

FREDEGONDA, wife of Chilperic I. of Neustria; a woman of low birth, but of great beauty and insatiable ambition, who scrupled at no crime to attain her end; made away with Galswintha, Chilperic's second wife, and superseded her on the throne; slew Siegbert, who had been sent to avenge Galswintha's death, and imprisoned Brunhilda, her sister, of Austrasia, and finally assassinated her husband and governed Neustria in the name of her son, Clotaire II. (543-597).

FREDERICK I., surnamed Barbarossa (Red-beard), of the house of Swabia, emperor of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (q. v.) from 1152 till 1190; "a magnificent, magnanimous man, the greatest of all the Kaisers"; his reign is the most brilliant in the annals of the empire, and he himself among the most honoured of German heroes; his vast empire he ruled with iron rigour, quelling its rival factions and extending his sovereign rights to Poland, Hungary, Denmark, and Burgundy; the great struggle of his reign, however, was with Pope Alexander III. and the Lombard cities, whose right to independence he acknowledged by the treaty of Constanz (1183); he "died some unknown sudden death" at 70 in the crusade against Saladin and the Moslem power; his lifelong ambition was to secure the independence of the empire, and to subdue the States of Italy to the imperial sway (1123-1190).

FREDERICK II., called the Wonder of the World, grandson of the preceding; he was crowned emperor in 1215, at Aix-la-Chapelle, having driven Otto IV. from the throne; he gave much attention to the consolidating of his Italian possessions, encouraged learning and art, founded the university of Naples, and had the laws carefully codified; in these attempts at harmonising the various elements of his empire he was opposed by the Papal power and the Lombards; in 1228 he gained possession of Jerusalem, of which he crowned himself king; his later years were spent in struggles with the Papal and Lombard powers, and darkened by the treachery of his son Henry and of an intimate friend; he was a man of outstanding intellectual force and learning, but lacked the moral greatness of his grandfather (1194-1250).

FREDERICK III., emperor of Germany, born at Potsdam; bred for the army; rose to command; did signal service at Koeniggratz in 1860, and again in 1870 in the Franco-German War; married the Princess Royal of England; succeeded his father, but fell a victim to a serious throat malady after a reign of only 101 days, June 18 (1831-1888).

FREDERICK V., Electoral Prince Palatine; succeeded to the Palatinate in 1610, and three years later married Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England; an attempt to head the Protestant union of Germany and his usurpation of the crown of Bohemia brought about his ruin and expulsion from the Palatinate in 1620 by the Spaniards and Bavarians; he took refuge in Holland, but two years later his principality was given to Bavaria by the emperor (1596-1632).

FREDERICK III., of Denmark, succeeded to the throne in 1648; during his reign the arrogance and oppression of the nobles drove the commons, headed by the clergy, to seek redress of the king by proclaiming the constitution a hereditary and absolute monarchy (1609-1670).

FREDERICK V., of Denmark, ascended the throne in 1746; during his reign Denmark made great progress, manufactures were established, commerce extended, while science and the fine arts were liberally patronised (1723-1766).

FREDERICK VI., of Denmark, became regent in 1784 during the insanity of his father, who died in 1808; his reign is noted for the abolishment of feudal serfdom and the prohibition of the slave-trade in Danish colonies, and the granting of a liberal constitution in 1831; while his participation in the maritime confederation between Russia, Sweden, and Prussia led to the destruction of the Danish fleet off Copenhagen in 1800 by the British, and his sympathy and alliance with Napoleon brought about the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, and the cession of Norway to Sweden in 1814 (1768-1839).

FREDERICK I., first king of Prussia, third elector of Brandenburg, and son of the Great Elector Frederick-William, whom as elector he succeeded in 1688; he extended his territory by purchase; supported William of Orange in his English expedition, and lent assistance to the Grand Alliance against France, for which he received the title of king of Prussia, being crowned such in Koenigsberg in 1701; he was "an expensive Herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and solemnities" (1657-1713).

FREDERICK II., king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, surnamed "The Great," grandson of the preceding, and nephew of George I. of England, born at Berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to England, an episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the scaffold; after his marriage in 1733 he resided at Rheinsburg, indulging his taste for music and French literature, and corresponding with Voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and consolidating his power; from Austria, after two wars (1740-1744), he wrested Silesia, and again in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and in 1778 by force of arms acquired the duchy of Franconia; as administrator he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote was in French, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted the creator of the Prussian monarchy "the first," says Carlyle, "who, in a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others" (1712-1786).

FREDERICK CHARLES, PRINCE, nephew of William I. of Germany; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the wars against Denmark and Austria, and in the Franco-German War (1828-1885).

FREDERICK-WILLIAM I., king of Prussia, born at Berlin, ascended the throne in 1713; in 1720, at the peace of Stockholm, he received part of Pomerania with Stettin for espousing the cause of Denmark in her war with Russia and Poland against Sweden; the rest of his reign was passed in improving the internal conditions of his country and her military resources; in praise of him as a sternly genuine man and king, Carlyle has much to say in the early volumes of his "Frederick"; "No Baresark of them" ("the primeval sons of Thor"), among whom he ranks him, "no Baresark of them, not Odin's self, I think, was a bit of truer human stuff; his value to me in these times, rare and great" (1688-1740).

FREDERICK-WILLIAM II., king of Prussia, nephew of FREDERICK THE GREAT (q. v.); succeeded to the throne in 1786, but soon lost favour by indolence and favouritism; in 1788 the freedom of the press was withdrawn, and religious freedom curtailed; he involved himself in a weak and vacillating foreign policy, wasting the funds accumulated by his uncle in a useless war with Holland; at the partition of Poland in 1793 and 1795 various districts were added to the kingdom (1744-1797).

FREDERICK-WILLIAM III., king of Prussia from 1797 till 1840; incited by the queen and the commons he abandoned his position of neutrality towards Napoleon and declared war in 1806; defeat followed at Jena and in other battles, and by the treaty of Tilsit (1807) Prussia was deprived of half her possessions; under the able administration of Stein the country began to recover itself, and a war for freedom succeeded in breaking the power of France at the victory of Leipzig (1813), and at the treaty of Vienna (1815) her lost territory was restored; his remaining years were spent in consolidating and developing his dominions, but his policy was sometimes reactionary in its effects (1770-1840).

FREDERICK-WILLIAM IV., king of Prussia from 1840 till 1861; his reign is marked by the persistent demands of the people for a constitutional form of government, which was finally granted in 1850; a year previous he had declined the imperial crown offered by the Frankfort Diet; in 1857 he became insane, and his brother was appointed regent (1795-1861).

FREDERIKSHALD, a fortified seaport of Norway, 65 m. SE. of Christiania; was burnt in 1826, but handsomely restored in modern style; timber is the main trade; in the immediate neighbourhood is the impregnable fortress of Frederiksteen, associated with the death of Charles XII. of Sweden, who fell fighting in the trenches before its walls in 1718.

FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, an ecclesiastical body formed by those who left the Established Church in 1843 on the ground that they were not free in their connection with the State to enforce certain obligations which they considered lay on them as a Church of Christ, to whom, and not to the State, they held themselves as a Church subject.

FREE CITIES OF GERMANY, were cities which enjoyed sovereign rights within their own walls, independent representation in the Diet, and owned allegiance solely to the emperor. Their internal government was sometimes democratic, sometimes the opposite. Their peculiar privileges were obtained either by force of arms, by purchase, or by gift of the emperors, who found in them a convenient means of checking the power of their feudal lords. Most of them lost their privileges in 1803, and since 1866 only Luebeck, Bremen, and Hamburg remain in the category of free cities.

FREE PORT, name given to a port at which ships of all nations may discharge or load cargo without payment of customs or other duties, save harbour dues. They were created in various Continental countries during the Middle Ages for the purpose of stimulating trade, but Copenhagen and, in a restricted sense, Hamburg and Bremen are now the only free ports in Europe. The system of bonded warehousing has superseded them.

FREE SOILERS, a political party which arose in the United States in 1848 to oppose slave-extension. In 1856 their principles were adopted, and the party absorbed in the newly-formed Republican party.

FREE TRADE, the name given to the commercial policy of England, first elaborately set forth with cogent reasoning by Adam Smith in his "Wealth of Nations," and of which the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was the first step towards its adoption. Strictly used, the term is applicable only to international or foreign trade, and signifies a policy of strict non-intervention in the free competition of foreign goods with home goods in the home markets. Differential duties, artificial encouragements (e. g. bounties, drawbacks), to the home producer, all of which are characteristic of a protective system of trading, are withheld, the belief being entertained by free-traders that the industrial interests of a country are best served by permitting the capital to flow into those channels of trade into which the character and resources of the country naturally dispose it to do, and also by bringing the consumer as near as possible to the cheapest producer. But it is not considered a violation of the Free Trade principles to impose a duty for revenue purposes on such imported articles as have no home competitor, e. g. tea.

FREEMAN, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, historian, born at Mitchley Abbey, Staffordshire; was a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford; examiner in the School of Law and Modern History; in 1884 he was elected Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford; most of his life was spent in country retirement at Somerleaze, varied by Continental travel; he is the author of many scholarly works ranging over the whole field of history, his fame, however, mainly resting on his great "History of the Norman Conquest" (1823-1892).

FREEMASONRY, in modern times is the name given to a world-wide institution of the nature of a friendly benevolent society, having for its objects the promotion of social intercourse amongst its members, and, in its own language, "the practice of moral and social virtue," the exercise of charity being particularly commended. By a peculiar grip of the hand and certain passwords members are enabled to recognise each other, and the existence of masonic lodges in all countries enables the freemason to find friendly intercourse and assistance wherever he goes. Its origin is found in the masonic brotherhoods of the Middle Ages, and some of the names, forms, and symbols of these old craft guilds are still preserved. In an age when great cathedrals and monasteries were rapidly springing up masons were in great demand, and had to travel from place to place, hence signs were adopted by which true masons might be known amongst each other and assisted. The idea of utilising this secret method of recognition for general, social, and charitable purposes, without reference to the mason's craft, seems to have originated in the Edinburgh Lodge, where, in 1600, speculative or theoretical masons were admitted. In its present form of organisation it dates back to 1813, when the "United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England" was formed, and of which, since 1874, the Prince of Wales has been Grand-Master, and which has nearly 2000 local lodges under its protection.

FREEPORT, SIR ANDREW, a London merchant; a member of the imaginary club under whose auspices the Spectator was issued.

FREIBERG (29), in the centre of the Saxon mining district, 20 m. SW. of Dresden; is an old town, which arose upon the discovery of its silver mines in 1163. It has a fine old cathedral, and a famous school of mines; and the manufactures comprise gold and silver work, wire, chemicals, etc.

FREIBURG, 1, a Swiss canton (119) between Bern and Vaud, and having three esclaves in the latter; the population consists chiefly of French Catholics; is hilly; dairy-farming, watchmaking, and straw-plaiting are the chief industries. 2, Capital (12) of the canton, is situated on the Saane, 19 m. SW. of Bern; the river is spanned by a suspension bridge, and there is an old Gothic cathedral with one of the finest-toned organs in Europe.

FREIBURG (49), in Breisgau, an important town in Baden, at the W. side of the Black Forest, and 32 m. NE. of Basel; has a Gothic cathedral famous for its architectural beauty, a university with 87 professors and teachers and 884 students; has important manufactures in silk, cotton, thread, paper, etc.; is the seat of a Catholic archbishop, and is associated with many stirring events in German history.

FREILIGRATH, FERDINAND, a popular German poet, born at Detmold; was engaged in commerce in his early years, but the success of a small collection of poems in 1838 induced him to adopt a literary career; subsequently his democratic principles, expressed in stirring verse, involved him in trouble, and in 1846 he became a refugee in London; he was permitted to return in 1848, and shortly afterwards was the successful defendant in a celebrated trial for the publication of his poem "The Dead to the Living," after which fresh prosecution drove him to London in 1851, where, till his return in 1868, he engaged in poetical work, translating Burns, Shakespeare, and other English poets (1810-1876).

FREISCHUeTZ (i. e. Freeshooter), a legendary hunter who made a compact with the devil whereby of seven balls six should infallibly hit the mark, and the seventh be under the direction of the devil, a legend which was rife among the troopers in the 13th and 14th centuries, and has given name to one of Weber's operas.

FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES, an American explorer, born at Savannah, Georgia; at first a teacher of mathematics in the navy, subsequently took to civil-engineering and surveying; in 1843 explored the South Pass of the Rockies, and proved the practicability of an overland route; explored the Great Salt Lake, the watershed between the Mississippi and Pacific, and the upper reaches of the Rio Grande; he rendered valuable services in the Mexican War, but was deprived of his captaincy for disobedience; after unsuccessfully standing for the Presidency in the anti-slavery interest, he again served in the army as major-general; a scheme for a southern railway to the Pacific brought him into trouble with the French government in 1873, when he was tried and condemned for fraud, unjustly it would seem; from 1878 to 1882 he was governor of Arizona; he was the recipient of distinctions from various geographical societies (1813-1890).

FRENCH PHILOSOPHISM, an analysis of things conducted on the presumption that scientific knowledge is the key to unlock the mystery and resolve the riddle of the universe.

FRENCH REVOLUTION, according to Carlyle "the open violent revolt, and victory, of disimprisoned Anarchy against corrupt, worn-out Authority, the crowning Phenomenon of our Modern Time," but for which, he once protested to Mr. Froude, he would not have known what to make of this world at all; it was a sign to him that the God of judgment still sat sovereign at the heart of it.

FRERE, SIR HENRY BARTLE EDWARD, a distinguished diplomatist and colonial governor, born near Abergavenny; entering the East India Company in 1834, he rendered important services as administrator in Mahratta and as Resident in Sattara in 1847; as the chief-commissioner in Sind he did much to open up the country by means of canals, roads, etc.; during the Mutiny, which arrested these works of improvement, he distinguished himself by the prompt manner in which he suppressed the rising in his own province; from 1862 to 1867 he was governor of Bombay; in 1867 was knighted, and five years later carried through important diplomatic work in Zanzibar, signing the treaty abolishing the slave-trade; his last appointment was as governor of the Cape and High-Commissioner for the settlement of South African affairs; the Kaffir and Zulu Wars involved him in trouble, and in 1880 he was recalled, having effected little (1815-1884).

FRERE, JOHN HOOKHAM, English politician and author, born in London, uncle of the preceding; he was a staunch supporter of Pitt, and in 1799 became Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs; a year later he was envoy to Lisbon, and subsequently minister to Spain; in 1821 he retired to Malta, where he devoted himself to scholarly pursuits, twice declining a peerage; in his early days he was a contributor to the Anti-Jacobin, and shares with his school-fellow Canning the authorship of the "Needy Knife-Grinder"; but he is best known by his fine translations of some of Aristophanes' plays (1769-1841).

FRESCO, the art of painting on walls freshly laid with plaster, or which have been damped so as to permit of the colour sinking into the lime; there were two methods, the fresco secco and the fresco buon; in the first the wall was sprinkled with water, and the colours were then worked into the damp surface; in the second process, in which finer and more permanent effects were obtained, the artist worked upon the fresh plaster of the wall (which is laid for him as he proceeds), pouncing or tracing his designs with a stylus; only colours which are natural earths can be employed, as they require to be mixed with lime ere being applied, and are subject to the destroying effect of that substance; as a method of mural decoration it was known to the ancients, and some of the finest specimens are to be seen in the Italian cathedrals of the 14th and 15th centuries; the art is still in vogue, but can only be practised successfully in a dry climate.

FRESNEL, AUGUSTIN JEAN, French physicist, born at Broglie, Eure; as an engineer he rose to be head of the Department of Public Works at Paris; in 1825 he was elected an F.R.S. of London; he made discoveries in optical science which helped to confirm the undulatory theory of light, also invented a compound lighthouse lens (1783-1827).

FRESNO (11), a town in California, on the Southern Pacific Railway, 207 m. SE. of San Francisco; the surrounding district, extensively irrigated, produces abundance of fruit, and raisins and wine are largely exported.

FREUND, WILHELM, German philologist, born at Kempen, in Posen; studied education at Berlin and Breslau, and was chiefly occupied in teaching till 1870, when he retired in order to devote himself to his literary pursuits; besides classical school-books and some works on philology, he compiled an elaborate Latin dictionary in 4 vols., which has been the basis of the standard English-Latin dictionaries since; b. 1806.

FREYR, figures in the Scandinavian mythology as the god who rules the rain and sunshine, and whose gifts were peace, wealth, and abundant harvests; the wooing of Gerda, daughter of the giant Gymer, by Freyr is one of the most beautiful stories in the northern mythology; his festival was celebrated at Christmas, and his first temple was built at Upsala by the Swedes, who especially honoured him.

FREYTAG, GUSTAV, an eminent German novelist and dramatist, born at Kreuzburg, Silesia; from 1839 was teacher of German language and literature at Breslau, and became editor of a journal, a position he held till 1870; was a member of the North German Diet, and accompanied the Crown Prince during the war of 1870-71; from 1879 resided at Wiesbaden; his many novels and plays and poems, which reveal a powerful and realistic genius, place him in the front rank of modern German litterateurs; several of his novels have been translated into English, amongst which his masterpiece, "Soll und Haben" (Debit and Credit) (1816-1895).

FRIAR (i. e. brother), a name applied generally to members of religious brotherhoods, but which in its strict significance indicated an order lower than that of priest, the latter being called "father," while they differed from monks in that they travelled about, whereas the monk remained secluded in his monastery; in the 13th century arose the Grey Friars or Franciscans, the Black Friars or Dominicans, the White Friars or Carmelites, Augustinians or Austin Friars, and later the Crutched Friars or Trinitarians.

FRIAR JOHN, a friar of Seville, in Rabelais' "Pantagruel," notorious for his irreverence in the discharge of his religious duties and for his lewd, lusty ways.

FRIAR TUCK, Robin Hood's chaplain and steward, introduced by Scott into "Ivanhoe" as a kind of clerical Falstaff.

FRIDAY, the young savage, the attendant of Robinson Crusoe, so called as discovered on a Friday.

FRIDAY, the sixth day of the week, so called as consecrated to Freyia or Frigga, the wife of Odin; is proverbially a day of ill luck; held sacred among Catholics as the day of the crucifixion, and the Mohammedan Sunday in commemoration as the day on which, as they believe, Adam was created.

FRIEDLAND, VALENTIN, an eminent scholar and educationist, born in Upper Lusatia; friend of Luther and Melanchthon; his fame as a teacher attracted to Goldberg, in Silesia, where he taught, pupils from far and near; the secret of his success lay in his inculcating on his pupils respect for their own honour; had a great faith in the intelligence that evinced itself in clear expression (1490-1556).

FRIEND OF MAN, Marquis de Mirabeau, so called from the title of one of his works, "L'Ami des Hommes."

FRIENDLY ISLANDS, islands of the S. Pacific, some 180 in number, mostly of coral or volcanic origin, and of which 30 are inhabited; the natives rank high among the South Sea islanders for intelligence. See TONGA ISLANDS.

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, associations of individuals for the purpose of mutual benefit in sickness and distress, and of old and wide-spread institution and under various names and forms.

FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF, a community of Christians popularly known as Quakers, founded in 1648 by GEORGE FOX (q. v.), distinguished for their plainness of speech and manners, and differing from other sects chiefly in the exclusive deference they pay to the "inner light," and their rejection of both clergy and sacrament as media of grace; they refuse to take oath, are averse to war, and have always been opposed to slavery.

FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE, an association formed as far back as 1792 to secure by constitutional means parliamentary reform.

FRIES, ELIAS, Swedish cryptogamic botanist, professor at Upsala; wrote on fungi and lichens (1794-1878).

FRIES, JAKOB FRIEDRICH, a German Kantian philosopher; was professor at Jena; aimed at reconciling the Kantian philosophy with Faith, or the intuitions of the Pure Reason (1773-1843).

FRIESLAND, the most northerly province of Holland, with a rich soil; divided into East and West Friesland; low-lying and pastoral; protected by dykes.

FRIGGA, a Scandinavian goddess, the wife of Odin; worshipped among the Saxons as a goddess mother; was the earth deified, or the Norse Demeter.

FRISIANS, a Low German people, who occupied originally the shores of the North Sea from the mouths of the Rhine and Ems; distinguished for their free institutions; tribes of them at one time invaded Britain, where traces of their presence may still be noted.

FRITH, WILLIAM POWELL, an English painter, born near Ripon, Yorkshire; his works are numerous, his subjects varied and interesting, and his most popular pictures have brought large sums; b. 1819.

FRITZ, FATHER, name given to Frederick the Great by his subjects "with a familiarity which did not breed contempt in his case."

FROBISHER, SIR MARTIN, famous English sailor and navigator, born near Doncaster; thrice over enthusiastically essayed the discovery of the North-West Passage under Elizabeth; accompanied Drake to the West Indies; was knighted for his services against the Armada; conducted several expeditions against Spain; was mortally wounded when leading an attack on Brest, and died on his passage home (1535-1594).